Way back on November 12, 2019 city staff presented this slide in support of their request for $100 million in certificates of obligation:
Notice that staff assured us that the “Issuance will comply with debt management policy’s maximum debt rate of 35 cents per $100 valuation”.
Well the slide is misleading in at least two ways.
The title implies that the $100 million is what city staff will ask for in 2020.
We now know that they are asking for another $46 million.
Will that keep us under the 35 cent maximum?
Well it looks like they have a problem.
They are forecasting their need to be up to 39.5 cents in 2026.
No problem, really
Their solution is to propose raising the rate to 40 cents per hundred at the Tuesday, December 10, 2019 city council meeting.
Is this incompetence or is it outright lying?
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
I’ll take one from column A, and one from column B. I’d lean towards outright lying as the correct response to your question, but certainly, incompetence has to be in there somewhere.
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This is just El Taxo inherent CORRUPTION showing up. Margo, Clown Council, Tommy Gonzales. Lies, denials, deception. “Creative bookkeeping”. Because THEY think that US “Stupid, ignorant peons” don’t know. can’t understand their “Sleight of hand”. Watch their hands, the “Shells”.
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The fact that they were outraged (and lobbying against) the lowering of the rollback cap earlier this year should tell you their attitude on tax and spend. And the fact that the idea of buying of the electric company had such a fast death, should tell you that they are getting tapped out on debtload. Margo’s rant against CAD for not raising business property valuations fast enough is a joke. Economic development is horrible and the retail and hotels they are giving tax breaks to (while pretending they are economic development) are not going to bring in enough revenue or jobs to offset the cost of their incentives.
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Do you really have to ask?
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Guess you didn’t see the debt limit was raised to 40/100.
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The tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks given to the Hunts and Weststar for their new downtown tower tells you everything you need to know about the mayor’s position on raising business property taxes. He wants to raise taxes for the average business because he knows he and council have the power to cut the tax bills of their friends. They sell spending by saying that more economic development will attract more businesses and increase the tax base, but then they turn around and hand out tax breaks for the projects that are supposed to generate that new tax revenue. We, the average citizens, are subsidizing businesses that do not pay their fair share. We’re paying a portion of their taxes. The Hunts said they could not justify building the new tower without all the tax subsidies. In a true free market, the city would have said then don’t build it.
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This is all a total outrage! 🤬🤬🤬
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